220 Her Son-in-Law has an Eye Disease
Lady Tian now wanted the Fourth Born to sleep with Lu Jiao even less. She argued, “Fourth Born, parents should sleep together. It’s good for their relationship.”
Just then, the First Born, who’s been quiet, asked, “Grandma, parents should sleep together?”
“That’s right.”
Lady Tian looked at the First Born. That kid was smart.
“Your mom and dad should sleep together. How about you sleep with us tonight?”
The First Born agreed and ordered the other three, “Tonight, we’ll sleep with grandma, grandpa, and third uncle. Mommy and daddy can sleep together.”
Only then, will their relationship improve and only then, will they not separate. That was the only way for them to keep their mom.
The Second and Third Born understood the intention behind this. The Fourth Born seemed to have understood but he didn’t want to be apart from his mom. He pouted.
The First Born glared at him and the Fourth Born finally quieted down.
Lu Jiao quickly said, “Mom, Xie Yunjin isn’t comfortable in my room.”
Lady Tian offered a solution right away, “Then you two sleep in your brother’s room. Your brother can sleep in your room with the kids.”
Lady Tian then looked towards Xie Yunjin, “Son, what do you say?”
Xie Yunjin could tell that Lu Jiao hated the idea. He replied, “Mom, the children are used to sleeping with Lu Jiao. They might be uncomfortable since this is a new place for them. Why not let the children be with Lu Jiao tonight? Once we are home, we can rearrange.”
Lu Jiao decided this guy was pretty ethical and nodded, “That’s right. He’s right.”
Lady Tian saw the look on their faces and grew suspicious. She narrowed her eyes, “Is something up between you two?”
Lu Jiao froze, then shook her head. She didn’t want to expose their separation so late at night. Xie Yunjin’s visit today brought the family so much happiness. How sad would they be to find out that they’ve actually separated? Lady Tian would break down.
Lu Jiao didn’t want her to feel sad so she shook her head. Xie Yunjin didn’t answer.
Lady Tian pushed Lu Jiao to Lu Gui’s room, “Hurry up and go to sleep. There’s nothing more to discuss.”
She then looked at Xie Yunjin, “Son, you should sleep as well. It’s late.”
There wasn’t much left for Xie Yunjin to say except to follow Lu Jiao into the room. The two entered the room and exchanged glances. Xie Yunjin was the first to speak, “Don’t worry. I won’t take advantage of you.”
He then checked out Lu Gui’s room and announced, “You sleep on the bed. I’ll sleep on the floor.”
Lu Jiao was satisfied with the suggestion, “Okay.”
The two got busy then. Lu Jiao searched around for bedding. She wasn’t able to find anything thick enough to put on the floor and only found an old and ripped blanket.
She laid it out on the ground, “There’s no more blanket to use for warmth. What to do?”
Xie Yunjin took out his outer layer robe and covered himself with it.
“This will do. It’s late. Sleep.”
Lu Jiao agreed and went to bed.
However, she was just about to fall asleep when footsteps arose outside the room. Xie Yunjin’s expression changed. He scrambled off the ground, threw the blanket under him onto the bed then crawled into bed himself. He laid there lopsided and pretended to be hazy but awake.
Lady Tian walked in then. Though both of them were in bed and her son-in-law acted as if he had just been woken up by the noise, Lady Tian still saw the old blanket on the bed right away.
It was summer and the thick blanket wasn’t necessary. So it was used by her son-in-law to sleep on the ground.
The four little ones had mumbled to her about how her daughter wanted to separate from her son-in-law. It appeared that they were speaking the truth.
Lady Tian was unspeakably sad and her eyes turned red.
Lu Jiao was awake and saw that Lady Tian was watching her with her eyes red.
Lu Jiao asked, “Mom, what’s wrong?”
Lady Tian said, “Come out.”
Lu Jiao got out of bed and followed her mom into the yard to talk.
“What’s happening? The Fourth Born told me you wanted a separation. Is it true?”
Lu Jiao froze. She didn’t expect the Fourth Born to tell Lady Tian that. That little guy’s mouth was not very well sealed.
Lu Jiao thought about it as she stared at Lady Tian. Then, she whispered, “Mom, he doesn’t like me.”
Lady Tian was stunned and couldn’t find any words to say. She was sure that calamity brought people closer. How come that wasn’t the case for her son-in-law?
Lady Tian knew that her daughter liked Xie Yunjin and felt hurt. She hugged Lu Jiao, “My Jiaojiao, how did you end up with such a heartless man?”
Lu Jiao felt bad. However, then she reminded herself that Xie Yunjin truly didn’t like her. So she wasn’t really lying.
Lu Jiao comforted Lady Tian, “Mom, I’ve thought it through and I’m okay with it. If he doesn’t like me, he doesn’t like me. I’ll be okay by myself.”
Her words made Lady Tian cry harder. She choked, “This is all my fault. I didn’t raise you well and that’s why you fell for that man’s appearance. If all those past things didn’t happen, you wouldn’t be married to him.”
Lady Tian’s cries pained Lu Jiao as well. She patted her back, “Mom, he said he’ll give me half a year. He’s going to try and see if he’ll fall for me in the next six months. If he still doesn’t like me after six months, then we’ll call it quits.”
Lu Jiao wanted to give Lady Tian some time to accept what was coming next. It worked well. Lady Tian felt better when she heard that and she stopped crying.
She studied Lu Jiao and just couldn’t understand what her son-in-law was thinking.
“My Jiaojiao is such a great woman, why doesn’t my son-in-law like you? What kind of person does he like?”
Lu Jiao chuckled and took Lady Tian’s hand, “Mom, feelings between men and women cannot be explained sometimes. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, wouldn’t you say?”
Lady Tian has been through a lot and naturally knew that. She was just sad that her amazing daughter couldn’t be loved by her son-in-law. Did her son-in-law have an eye disease? It was such a pity that her daughter was going to be divorced at such a young age.
Lady Tian’s eyes turned red again and she patted Lu Jiao’s head, “Jiaojiao, if you divorce, what will you do? The world isn’t fair to women. If you divorce, you’ll be laughed at and mocked. Your life will be difficult. I don’t want to see you so sad.”
Those thoughts felt like knives stabbing into Lady Tian’s heart.
Lu Jiao felt worse and worse. She hugged Lady Tian and consoled her, “Mom, don’t worry. Maybe things will change over the next six months. Don’t spend energy being sad over something that hasn’t happened. Even if we do end up separated in six months, so what? I am rather capable, you know? I plan on finding you an even better son-in-law.”